Photo & Video Galleries

The Workers' Memorial

Part 1 Project 1999Alexander CatinaMichael BrennanMackintosh School of Architecture Glasgow UKMy design approach is to form an understanding of the problem through a thorough investigation of the brief and site, to give clarity and substance to the concept, giving rise to the solution.

The Fossil Grove building attempts to address the delicate nature of the subject, whilst recognising the surrounding conditions and answering the requirements of the environmental strategies of such a building. The building has two parts, the glass shed being a controlled environment from which the public are physically held back, with the inhabited space gently pushing into the fossil space while delicately raised above the ground, reinforcing the minimal impact on the site.

The Scottish Film Centre is an exploration of place and type. The place is the gateway between urban and park with three very differing edge conditions. The type is the instantly recognisable form or object. Both place and type are answered through the relationships to each other.

The Workers' Memorial in Illinois is a reaction to the landscape of Illinois and the problems generated by the brief asking for a place of solitude and reflection in an environment of public recreation. Thus the idea of inhabiting the space under a bridge, allowing public traffic over, continuing the footpath, and the ceremonial gathering space below, soild and void.Alexander CatinaMichael Brennan

Returning from his summer break with measured drawings of which the cross section is shown, Michael began a series of impressive designs developing in ambition and skill. A commitment to design through drawing, mostly through the computer, and to the effort necessary for the serious process of design development produced a believable architecture communicating a high degree of materiality.

In the Fossil Grove project he created a highly engineered and elegant glass building set into a pre-existing and artfully constructed late Victorian picturesque landscape.

His Film Centre displays a grand concept of entry and promenade upwards under the great sweep of the auditorium to foyers and cafes overlooking the park beyond. The plan shape gives significance to the large public space.

Finally the Workers' Memorial set in a park in the Champagne/Urbana area of Illinois continues a movement out of the prosaic need to cross a site drainage channel flowing into an artificial lake.